Who will replace Brenda Snipes as Broward elections chief?

Broward elections supervisor Brenda Snipes looks on as the Broward County Canvassing Board ends its part in the statewide machine recount Thursday. (Taimy Alvarez / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

With Broward’s County’s elections supervisor on the way out, three people have already emerged as potential replacements to get the office in order before the 2020 presidential election season.

Democrats Lori Parrish and David Brown and Republican Richard DeNapoli all expressed interest Monday in replacing much-maligned Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes, who has resigned effective Jan. 4. All said they would consider doing the job until Snipes’ term ends in 2020 and not seek to be elected then.

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Parrish, a Democratic former county commissioner, school board member and county property appraiser, officially applied Monday. “I just applied for the appointment as Supervisor of Elections for the two years left on the term,” she posted on Facebook.

“I will go in if they want me to straighten the organization out, but I would only serve the rest of her term,” Parrish told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “That’s all I’m interested in.”

Snipes’ term in office ends in 2020, a presidential election year when Broward voters will choose their elected Supervisor of Elections.

Speculation over who will get appointed supervisor of elections has the local political world buzzing.

“Broward has proven that it likes political drama,” said former Broward Democratic Party chairman Mitch Ceasar said. “This opening is like a new show premiering for the fall schedule.”

Ceasar said he’d heard from multiple Republicans with theories about Snipes’ replacement.

“People aren’t sure if they want a Republican who can fix the office or a sympathetic Democrat or some other variation,” he said. “Probably going to take time to gel.”

As problems with this year’s election and recounts multiplied, Broward Republicans already were searching for a replacement agreeable to both the statewide Republican leaders who would make the choice and Democrats who are the overwhelming majority party in the county.

According to several sources familiar with the search, ideas for a replacement center on former city and county officials in Broward County whose appointment would not create new openings and necessitate special elections that would have to be overseen by an elections office thrown into even greater chaos with Snipes’ resignation.

Whoever gets the job will have less than two years to prepare for the 2020 presidential election. President Donald Trump won the state by a 1.2 percent margin in 2016, and his re-election campaign almost certainly will be another close race in Florida. Election management on the part of county supervisors could take on out-sized importance, especially in the event of another recount like those seen in this year’s governor, Senate and agriculture commissioner races.

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The new supervisor of elections will be in charge of a department that included 72 employees and an $18.4 million budget in the 2018 fiscal year, and will face high-pressure demands from both political parties to make the next election run on time and error free.

Brown, a political consultant, said he’d be interested in the appointment. Brown unsuccessfully challenged Snipes in the 2016 Democratic primary.

“I’m getting a lot of calls and texts asking me to run again,” Brown said by text message. “Right now, I am more concerned with reorganizing the office. I’d even be willing to be appointed, reform the office and not run in 2020. I don’t think a new SOE can straighten the ship and be a candidate for the election in 2020. The presidential election must take full attention.”

Richard DeNapoli, a former Broward Republican Party chairman who just won a seat on the Broward Soil and Water Conservation District, expressed interest in the supervisor of elections position as well.

“I just won a countywide election as a known Republican official in Broward County but would promise to not run in 2020,” he wrote in a statement. “What has occurred has been a national embarrassment, and we need someone who is determined to come in and right the ship without concern for their own reelection so that it never happens again.”

Parrish said greater ballot security and accountability as well as automating email responses to mail-in voters to let them know their vote was received are among the changes that need to happen.

“Have you seen what the ballots are kept in? Just these white post office boxes. We need metal bins that are labeled and each ballot is checked before it goes in there,” Parrish said. “And the fact that some people say they can’t trust mail-in voting anymore, that’s horrible. … You can send an email saying we received your ballot, everything’s fine. You create an automated checklist, and you just email them. And for the ones that don’t have an email, you mail a form letter to their homes to let them know. It’s simple things that don’t cost much money to fix, and everybody feels more comfortable and confident that their vote counted.”

Given the timeline put in place by Republican election victories and Snipes’ resignation letter, her replacement will likely not be made by Gov. and Sen.-elect Rick Scott, who will take his new office Jan. 3. It will then fall to either Lieutenant Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera or Gov.-elect Ron DeSantis, who will be sworn into office on Jan. 8.